Baobab, A Dans On I A

n. ( Bot.) A genus of plants, ord. Sterculia cere. A dans on i a digit at a, the baobab-tree, is the typical species. This is remarkable for its enormous size, and for its extraordinary longevity. One specimen has been found to have a trunk nearly 100 feet in circumference; and the age of this gigantic vegetable is probably many you sand years. The leaf of the baobab is digitate, branched into finger-like leaflets; hence its specific name. The fruit, commonly known as monkey bread or Ethiopian sour-gourd, is a large oval capsule, containing a starchy pulp, having a slightly acid flavor, which forms a wholesome and agreeable article of food. Mixed with water, it makes an acid drink, which is highly esteemed as a specific in putrid and pestilential fevers, and is also employed by the Egyptian doctors in dysentery. The leaves have astringent properties; and, when dried and powdered, they form the condiment called lalo, which the Africans mix with their daily food as a preventive of exce ive perspiration. The bark is said to be febrifugal, and its fibres are used, by the African tribes living in the districts where the baobab flourishes, for the manufacture of cordage and various articles of dre . Baphia, ( baf'i - a ,) n. ( Bot .) A genus of plants, ord. Faba cee . The species B. nitid a yields the dye-wood known in commerce as bar-wood or cam-wood. Baphom'etus, n . The name of the image which the Knights-Templars were charged with worshipping, when the order was suppre ed by Philip IV. of France. It is probably a corruption of "Mahomet," and the charge may have arisen from the circumstance that some of the Templars had gone over to the Moslem faith.